Sade

Genres:	Jazz • Music Videos & Concerts • Musicals & The Arts • Pop / Rock • R&B / Soul • Urban & Rap
Descriptive "tags":	soul • female vocalists • jazz • chillout • pop
Decades Active:	1980s • 1990s • 2000s
Links online:	BBC Music • MySpace • Official Homepage • Twitter • Wikipedia

Biography

Helen Folasade Adu, 16 January 1959, Ibadan, Nigeria. Sade’s sultry jazz-tinged vocals made her one of the most successful international stars of the 80s. Of mixed Nigerian/English parentage, Sade grew up in Clacton, Essex, England, writing songs as a teenager. While an art student in London, she joined Arriva, where she met guitarist Ray St. John with whom she composed ‘Smooth Operator’. From 1981-83, Sade fronted the funk band Pride, leaving the following year to form her own band with ex-Pride members Stewart Matthewman (saxophone), Andrew Hale (keyboards) and Paul Denman (bass). The line-up was completed by drummer Paul Cook. The group gained a following on the London club scene and in 1984 its first single, the lilting ‘Your Love Is King’ was a UK Top 10 hit. The Robin Millar-produced Diamond Life broke her into the US market on the back of the Top 5 hit single ‘Smooth Operator’, and went on to become one of the...

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